Contests, schmontests, you may say. But hold on a minute! Those contests do wonders for business owners in terms of training, increased confidence, expert feedback and exposure to investors and potential partners. And that's not even mentioning perks like money, awards and publicity.

And yet, the contests are thoroughly dominated by men, though there are moves afoot to increase women's participation. An interesting conundrum and one that allowed me to conduct a bunch of fascinating interviews.

Like Janelle Shubert, who's quoted in the piece, sometimes you just want to "put your head down and weep."